Vehicles such as an automobile have included a rear-view mirror such as a door mirror and a fender mirror. In recent years, an attempt to remove the rear-view mirror to reduce the air resistance is made from a viewpoint of CO2 (carbon dioxide) reduction, vehicle design, and the like.
For example, instead of the rear-view mirror, a CMS (camera monitoring system) in which a camera (imaging unit) picks up an image of the rear view of the vehicle and a crew such as a driver checks the image is being introduced.
In the CMS, a configuration in which an imaging unit is placed on a tip portion of an arm (supporting portion) that extends to the outside direction from a side of the vehicle is generally employed. Because the imaging unit can be downsized as compared with an existing rear-view mirror, it is possible to reduce the air resistance.
Note that Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 1994-64479 discloses the technology that causes a camera head to project or retreat in the vertical direction by using a cylindrical body provided to the front end portion of a vehicle.